David Mark

I have some availability, I work 9am to 7pm, Wednesday to Thursday (online), and 9am to 6pm on Friday (in person).

Hello, thank you for your bravery to resolve your issue or relational conflict.

There are times in our lives when how we feel, what we’re experiencing or what we’re thinking can seem jumbled up like a spool of tangled string and we’re feeling stuck which causes us real suffering. This stuckness, can affect our emotions, thinking, behaviours and even our physical health. We have options. We can ignore it, fight it, get distracted or we can do the work.

I would like to support you by listening to you without judgement, helping you consider what is going on in your life, so you heal, rebalance and move towards a more integrated, genuine you. For this to happen deep trust and compassion are foundational.

I am a qualified British Association Counselling Therapist and a member of the BACP coaching division.

I’m an integrative therapist and coach, this means I am skilled and flexible in using different psychological approaches for you as an individual.

I use counselling to work with emotions, thoughts, behaviours or physical chronic conditions, so you can heal and rebalance. I use coaching to support you to move in the direction of new possibilities.

I work with individuals, relationship counselling, anxiety, depression, loss, addictions, trauma and chronic physical conditions.

I’ve lived in three different continents, 52 years old, married for 24 years with two teenage boys and a zen buddhist. I have experienced in myself, my relationships and in running businesses (in London and NY), success and failure, loss and triumph, debilitating self doubt resulting in anxiety that physically crippled me and (through therapy) completely healed. I’ve known deep depression and deep joy; racism and prejudice and community, belonging and meaning. 

I’m sharing this because I’m human and although I have not had the same experiences as you, I can empathise, and confident together we can work towards a more meaningful, flourishing existence.

I’ve been trained in integrative counselling therapy and coaching. This means we will spend time together and I will listen deeply to you, without judgement, with compassion and unconditionally. I want to know you and what you're experiencing deeply so that you can trust me, even with some of your most painful emotions, experiences and memories.

The next phase involves doing the reparative work together. The approach is integrative and this means, we can use different psychological approaches that would work specifically for you and what you're experiencing. The major ones are:

Psychodynamic - how our early life has shaped us, our relationship to others, and our outlook on the world.

Transactional Analysis - the different parts of ourselves (parent / adult / child) and how these relate to ourselves and others and the types of stories we believe about ourselves.

Existential - the meaning making, around how we see ourselves, others, the material world, and spirituality.

Compassion Focused Therapy - our experience of feeling safe, belonging and our drive towards a preferred scenario.

They are also deeply informed by person centred therapy (how we have internal drives to fulfil our potential), CBT (how our thoughts affect our behaviours and emotions), gestalt (how our body is always whispering to us) and medical hypnosis (when the usual modalities are less effective, we can bypass these to the subconscious, especially with chronic health conditions).

Once we have done the reparative work, we can use coaching as an approach to help you move towards your preferred scenario. This can involve exploring your existing situation, behaviours, resources, identity and values, and what you would like to become, and establish if this is what really aligns with your highest values, and the potential paths to make this happen.

So as an integrative counsellor and coach, with work, together we can move from stuckness to a place of flourishing, meaning and possibility.

I know that seeking support can feel very daunting so I take great care in the initial session to explain the counselling process, explore your expectations and needs, and ensure that you really feel I am the right person to help you. After this we can commit to a further 6-12 sessions if you have a specific issue you want to work on or longer open ended work if appropriate.

I believe trust is central in building a successful therapeutic relationship trust so I provide a warm, empathic, non- judgemental space where we can explore, in complete confidentiality, whatever has led you to counselling.

Finding the right practitioner is important, and I want you to find the right therapist for you. I know looking for support can be intimidating, so I want to offer a safe space, where we can discuss your expectations and needs, just to make sure I am the right person to work with you.

I would suggest booking 6 - 12 sessions if you would like to work on a specific issue or conflict and you have the option to extend this, if that seems appropriate.

In my experience, for this to be effective, trust is paramount and so I want you to always feel welcome, listened to (without judgement) and unconditional respect, so that you can feel safe in the counselling environment, knowing this is a completely confidential space.